Mickey Sends Capt’n Jack to Sea

It has been widely rumored/reported by folks like Jim Hill that the Pirate & Princess party held over the last couple of years at the Magic Kingdom in Florida hasn’t made much money (if any at all).

For the number of times that they’ve done it, I’d have a hard time believing that they weren’t making SOME money at it, else they’d have surely given up on it by now.  Mickey’s no dummy, and rarely in my experience has Disney tinkered with something more than once or twice before mothballing something that just wasn’t working.

Some people have contended based on the crowds they’ve seen that there was no way Mickey could be making money for this hard ticket event.  What most people forget in this analysis I think is the fact that on those days the MK is still open during the day for regular guests (usually until 6’ish). 

So in my book there is very LITTLE extra money being paid out for what is mostly a profit making MACHINE for the P&R folks with these parties.  Sure, the daily attendance may go down a bit due to park hours.  And you’ll have a slightly different cost structure for things like added fireworks, a second parade and the mixers.  However, you’ve just gotten a whole bunch more people to pony up more money ($40-50 bucks a head). 

The staff was going to be there anyhow, regardless of the party.  And Mickey still sells plush and trinkets regardless of how you paid to get into the park. 

My bet is that the finance people at TDF have these events rigged for there is LOTS of upside, and very little downside…  after all, if you control everything that’s in play, you can do that without much fear of downside risk.

The next question will be do they cut park hours on the day’s the parties would have been scheduled for?  Labor is a variable cost remember, so every hour Mickey shaves off the clock probably saves him on average $10-$15 dollars an hour for all those people working in the park (since most of them are hourly employees, not salaried).

That adds up quick.

So if Mickey is opting to send Jack out to sea this time around, then attendance predictions must be soft enough to not overcome the slightly higher fixed costs of these parties.  Which also means some of these predictions of completely unhinged bookings might have just gotten a little less murky…

UPDATE (12/4/08): Disney World just announced their latest discounts for most of January through mid-February.  $49 for ALL Value resorts, $94 for Moderates and some various discounts for higher end properties like AKL.  One trick here to note, these prices only apply SUNDAY through THURSDAY…  I’d expect full freight prices for any Friday and Saturday night stays.

No word yet on further discounts at the cruise lines.  My spot checking this last week has shown deals on category 12 state rooms, but nothing else… yet.